This invention relates in general to sheet piling walls, and, in particular, to a sheet piling supported aesthetically pleasing modular wall system.
It is highly efficient and cost-effective to use vertical sheet piling in order to retain a bank of land, in particular a bank of land next to an excavation or adjacent a body of water. Sheet piling is also used in and around harbors and canals for establishing bulkheads against the water. Sheet piling may also be used in highway construction for stabilizing an embankment adjacent the highway. One drawback of sheet pile construction is its appearance that is unpleasant and otherwise unattractive. Sheet piling is made of steel and it usually rusts. Even if it is treated with a coating or painted, such treatment requires periodic and expensive maintenance.
Sheet piling walls have replaced older types of construction that included masonry walls with large stone and/or precast concrete blocks. Construction of such masonry walls is very expensive and time-consuming. In order to construct the wall, a temporary sheet pile wall is driven in order to retain the adjacent water or soil. Then the area behind the temporary sheet pile wall is excavated and the masonry wall is installed. The excavation behind the masonry wall is backfilled and the temporary sheet piling wall is removed. While such walls are attractive, they are often prohibitively expensive.
Today many harbors and other waterways including canals, such as the famous Erie Canal are being re-developed for commercial and recreational purposes. As such, there is a demand for construction techniques that will create more aesthetically pleasing environments for these reconstructed harbors and canals. As such, there has developed a long-felt and unfulfilled need for a cost-effective, aesthetically-pleasing wall.
The invention solves the problem of the prior art and meets its unfelt need by providing a method of constructing an aesthetically-pleasing wall using sheet piling. The invention also provides a modular wall and a modular wall bracket that enables the construction of aesthetically-pleasing sheet pile walls.
The modular wall of the invention includes sheet piling that is driven into the ground along the location for the wall. The location may be adjacent a body of water, such as a harbor or a canal or adjacent a highway excavation. Sheet piling typically has an undulating pattern characterized by crests and troughs. This undulating pattern makes for a more durable design against the earth and water forces that act upon the sheet pile. The invention uses the troughs that face the excavation for supporting a support bracket that in turn supports a modular block facade. Support brackets are hung from the troughs of the sheet piling and extend down into the excavation and/or below the water line of the adjacent body of water. The support brackets provide a cantilever support for the facade. As such, the brackets include an elongated member that extends parallel to the sheet piling. Below the water or excavation line the support bracket has a base member that extends transverse to the support bracket and parallel to the length of the wall. The base member is in turn supported by a brace. The brace extends from the base member to the support bracket at a position between the base member and the top of the support bracket. In an alternate embodiment, the vertical member of the support bracket extends beyond the base member and the brace then extends from the base member down toward the lower portion of the vertical member.